Northern Star

Linze Griebenow Assistant Day Editor Grade: C After going to four schools in four years, I can happily say I’m graduating from NIU. Well, I’m happy I’m graduating after going to four schools in four years. Although I’ve only spent one solid year here, I’ve grown up in DeKalb with the university ...

Being the First Lady is an important job. Many First Ladies used their position to do work for the public good. Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush are all prime examples of such. Michelle Obama is no exception. She has truly been impressive in her time as first lady starti...

In regards to Colin Remes’ columns: “What our founding fathers didn’t get right” demonstrates that the left is dropping their veil and no longer even pretends to follow the constitution. Remes has also bashed the constitutionalist tea party movement in the past. Well I have news for Mr. Remes: the...

Part 2 of 2 We are facing gridlock in Washington, but parliamentary systems rarely see a lack of movement like we are experiencing. The main reason for this is that parliamentary systems are significantly more unified in their political views, ideas and values. In our system, politicians much more often th...

Part 1 of 2 After over 200 years of America being America, there are certain things that need to be reviewed, revised and changed in our constitution. The founding fathers were brilliant and courageous men, but they were not infallible. No one, man or woman, could foresee every possible problem with a new...

There are varying levels of fandom. There are those who like something, those who love it and those who obsessively define their entire lives by it. What inspired this article was a tweet in a Yahoo! article by a Lady Gaga fan to Gaga on her birthday: “[You’re] so special to me. I love you so much ha...

The word tenure commonly refers to a senior academic’s contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause. The key term here is “just cause.” What qualifies exactly as just cause? Declining student performance from semester to semester? The number of students dropping...

Graduation. It looms it’s big scary head on the near horizon for many of us on the homestretch at NIU. The big question on many of our minds is this: now what? I’m certain many of us have heard unfortunate stories about leaving college with a mountain of debt and a “worthless degree.” Don’t...

A recent Associated Press article revealed that Illinois lawmakers are proposing a $5 strip club tax. The tax would apply to clubs that have both nude dancers and serve, or allow patrons to bring, alcohol. Clubs can avoid the fine by ceasing to serve alcohol or having live, nude dancers and strip clu...

The music industry has certainly changed over the past 15 years, and in my opinion, not at all for the better. The advancements of technology have allowed digital distribution to expand exponentially, in particular illegal downloading, and it has caused actual record sales to plummet significantly. Just...

Laugh tracks need to be done away with. They are obnoxious, annoying and if you need to be told where the punchline of a joke was, then it was a bad joke. However, there is a scientific purpose for using them. Those in communication studies refer to it as the “density intensity” effect. Say you’r...

Linze Griebenow: Pro censorship advocates and anti porn advocates are two birds of a feather. Here’s why: It’s a common misconception that anti pornography feminists are pro censorship. I would argue, rather, that censorship is a greater threat to the women’s movement; however, that’s not to und...